Balangiga bells: We’re home

Manila -- The bells that were taken by American soldiers from a church in Balangiga, Eastern Samar are finally back in the Philippines after 117 years.

The three bells landed at the Philippine Air Force headquarters in Villamor Air Base, Pasay City around 10:30 a.m. onboard a US Air Force C-130, which departed from a United States military base in Okinawa, Japan.

On behalf of the Philippine government, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, together with Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo, received the three bells turned over by the American executives led

by United States Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim.

“It’s time for healing. It’s time for closure. We should look ahead as two nations and allies...Let the bells toll strong and loud for our countries,” he said.

Reynaldo Mapagu, undersecretary of the Civil, Veterans and Retiree Affairs, said the return of the bells more than a century after they were taken as war trophies by the American soldiers was a result of high-level bilateral talks between Lorenzana and US Defense Secretary James Mattis.

The bells were taken on September 29, 1901 after Filipinos in Balangiga launched an attack against the 9th Infantry Regiment of the US, killing 48 soldiers and wounding 12 others.The incident was described by the US Army as its “worst defeat” since the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876.

Before their return to the Philippines, one of the bells was housed at the 9th Infantry Regiment at Camp Cloud in South Korea, and the two others were placed in a former base of the 11th Infantry Regiment at F. E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenee, Wyoming.Mapagu said the bells will be transported back to Balangiga in Eastern Samar before the Misa de Gallo or Christmas dawn masses begin.

Residents of the Balangiga town also attended the ceremonial turnover Tuesday, December 11.